Mediterranean Gecko – Just Hatched

 Mediterranean Gecko, Reptiles  No Responses »
Jul 072011
 
Share

I discovered a Mediterranean Gecko egg while cleaning out the garage. I put the egg in a small acrylic container lined with soft paper, and decided to keep observe it over time. Eight days later I came home from a short road trip, and discovered that the Mediterranean Gecko egg had hatched. Over the course of those eight days the egg was kept at room temperature.

After taking these pictures, I opened the acrylic case, and set it outside in the shade under a bush. I checked on it five minutes later, and the baby gecko had already left.

Continue reading »

Mediterranean Gecko – Eggs

 Mediterranean Gecko, Reptiles  No Responses »
Jul 052011
 
Share

While cleaning the garage this weekend we made a surprise discovery. We kept a garden tool rack in this corner of the garage, which is right next to the garage door, and over the years it had accumulated a good deal grass clippings, leaves, and dirt. We slid the garden tool rack out from the corner of the garage, and began sweeping out the litter. That’s when we noticed two small, off-white spheres in the debris.

The two off-white spheres were clearly eggs of some kind. One of the eggs was broken open, and after closer examination it was found to contain a Mediterranean Gecko embryo.

While checking the debris pile for more eggs we discovered two more fused orbs in the pile as well. We believe these are possibly infertile/failed gecko eggs.

Continue reading »

Mediterranean Gecko – Up Close

 Mediterranean Gecko  No Responses »
Jun 052011
 
Share

This observation includes some closeup pictures a Mediterranean Gecko. Pay particular attention to the pictures of the gecko’s feet. Geckos have a unique ability to adhere to surfaces that would be challenging for most other creatures.

This ability is attributed to the special physiology of the gecko’s foot as described in this quote from Wikipedia:

The toes of the gecko have attracted a lot of attention, as they adhere to a wide variety of surfaces, without the use of liquids or surface tension. Recent studies of the spatula tipped setae on gecko footpads demonstrates that the attractive forces that hold geckos to surfaces are van der Waals interactions between the finely divided setae (almost 500,000 Setae on each foot, and each of these tipped with between 100 and 1,000 spatulae) and the surfaces themselves. Each seta is 2 diameter of human hair long i.e 100 millionth of meter and each spatulae is 200 billionth of meter long, just below wavelength of visible light. These kinds of interactions involve no fluids; in theory, a boot made of synthetic setae would adhere as easily to the surface of the International Space Station as it would to a living room wall, although adhesion varies with humidity and is dramatically reduced under water, suggesting a contribution from capillarity. The setae on the feet of geckos is also self cleaning and will usually remove any clogging dirt within a few steps.

Continue reading »

Mediterranean Gecko – On the Front Porch

 Mediterranean Gecko, Reptiles  No Responses »
May 192011
 
Share

Mediterranean Geckos hide out during the day, and come out at night to hunt for insects. In this case around 10 geckos have congregated around the bug attracting power of a porch light for their nightly hunt.

Things to observe in this series of photographs are the variation in shape and coloration between individual geckos. Notice the translucent skin that allows you to see the dark contents of a full gut. Some of these lizards are also sporting regenerated tails, and some are missing toes—a testament to the dangers Mediterranean Geckos face as they live their lives.

Continue reading »